Petito spent the summer season touring the American West with Laundrie, sharing their travels on social media. The case first attracted widespread consideration after Petito’s household reported her lacking on September 11.
Laundrie would quickly vanish from his mother and father’ house in North Port, Florida, simply days earlier than Petito’s stays had been present in a nationwide forest in Wyoming.
However there’s nonetheless so much we do not know.
Here is what consultants say about uncovering the reality surrounding their deaths:
How did Laundrie die?
However figuring out the reason for demise may very well be difficult since authorities recovered “skeletal stays,” stated retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente. He added that it is doable Laundrie might have been lifeless your entire time he was lacking.
“It would not essentially imply that,” Clemente instructed CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday. “However what it does imply is that it should be far more tough to make , stable willpower as to the trigger and method of demise.”
“Until there’s some form of main, severe trauma to the cranium that may be recognized, there won’t be a technique to decide how he died,” he stated. “If he drowned, for instance, there would not be any proof of that on a skeleton.”
Legal protection lawyer Mark O’Mara stated probably the most cheap clarification is Laundrie took his personal life within the nature reserve — a chance Steven Bertolino, an lawyer for Laundrie’s mother and father, addressed Friday in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
The lawyer and Laundrie’s mother and father had mentioned the likelihood Laundrie died by suicide “a number of instances,” the lawyer stated.
“We simply have no idea. In fact, realizing his psychological state when he walked out the door, it was all the time a priority,” stated Bertolino, who had described Laundrie in different interviews as “grieving.”
Bertolino instructed GMA the household would settle for the ruling of the health worker in the event that they give you one other clarification for the reason for demise.
Dr. Priya Banerjee, a forensic pathologist, agreed investigators face a problem in figuring out Laundrie’s explanation for demise. Nevertheless, a pocket book discovered close to Laundrie’s stays may very well be utilized by investigators to glean some perception into his demise.
“Possibly the diary or different proof can shed some mild as to what occurred,” Banerjee stated.
What occurred within the time he was lacking?
It is unclear how Laundrie spent his time within the reserve or when precisely he died.
For a month, investigators had their eyes skilled on the Carlton Reserve, the place Laundrie was believed to have gone when he left his mother and father’ house within the days after Petito’s household reported her lacking.
The search by way of the reserve started on September 18, a day after Laundrie’s mother and father filed a lacking individuals report for Laundrie, who they stated had left the house days earlier than and didn’t return.
However the search proved to be tough, with investigators working underneath excessive situations. They had been slowed down by the weather, wading by way of excessive water and attempting to keep away from harmful wildlife. Circumstances had been so dangerous that survivalist consultants had been skeptical of Laundrie’s means to outlive and instructed CNN weeks in the past he was probably not alive or not within the reserve in any respect.
The Laundrie household initially instructed police he left house Tuesday, September 14, however later modified their recollection to say he left the day earlier than.
The FBI didn’t touch upon the report, however North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor stated his company wasn’t notified Laundrie did not return from the hike till September 17. He stated in a press release police believed he was house till that day, when the mother and father agreed to talk with police.
No matter when Laundrie left his mother and father’ house, Taylor on Thursday rejected the concept the belongings discovered within the reserve might have been lately planted, indicating that they had been there for a while.
What occurred to Gabby Petito?
Chief among the many questions which are nonetheless unanswered are these about Petito’s destiny.
However different particulars from the post-mortem is not going to be launched, per Wyoming regulation. Some particulars of Petito’s demise are nonetheless shrouded in thriller: When did she die and what led to her homicide?
Whereas the FBI described Laundrie Wednesday as a “particular person of curiosity” in Petito’s homicide, he didn’t face costs in her demise. He was, nevertheless, indicted for allegedly utilizing two monetary accounts that didn’t belong to him within the days after her killing.
Once more, consultants pointed the pocket book discovered close to Laundrie’s stays as a possible key to answering these questions.
“When it comes to understanding Laundrie’s motive, his emotions about Petito, perhaps even any form of notes or feedback he could have made in regards to the occasions we’re nonetheless attempting to know in Wyoming — that pocket book might shed a number of mild on these points,” stated former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Clemente, the retired FBI profiler, echoed these feedback, telling CNN, “If that pocket book contained, for instance, info that would have been admissions, it may very well be projecting blame or rationalization — all that info might assist in the willpower.”
“They’ll use any potential means to dry that out earlier than opening it,” the supply stated. “They’re going to be very cautious with it.”
Focus has additionally shifted to Laundrie’s mother and father and whether or not their son instructed them something about what occurred to Petito earlier than he vanished.
Petito’s household had pleaded for the Laundries to cooperate with authorities after reporting her lacking. When police confirmed up on the Laundrie house on September 11, asking to talk with Laundrie and his household, the Laundries directed authorities to their lawyer, Taylor has stated.
On Friday, Bertolino instructed GMA his shoppers had been cooperating with the FBI since “day one” of Brian’s disappearance however stated that they had “completely nothing to say” about Petito.
Requested within the interview if Laundrie instructed his mother and father something about Petito earlier than going to the reserve final month, Bertolino stated, “Not one thing I can touch upon proper now. I would like to simply depart it at that.”
CNN’s Christina Maxouris, Amir Vera, Eric Levenson, Kristina Sgueglia and Randi Kaye contributed to this report.
